With the house being taken over by my 1yr old niece every other day, I've not had a chance to advance things.

However, I've managed to commandeer a small corner of the house to use as a temporary workbench, so I can start ballasting in earnest tomorrow before diving in head first with my attempt to scratch-build station platforms

Ballasting has commenced! I've done just a short section for now to make sure my technique is up to scratch and the photos don't really do it justice at the moment - the glue is wet, so it looks horrible.

I've decided that I won't be ballasting the section I marked as a chemical works (or some other factory). Instead, I'm going to try and fill in the sleepers to make it look like the track is embedded into a roadway; the sidings will still be ballasted, though.

Will be interested to read about your scratch built platforms when you get round to it. I've not seen anything I like in the shops and scratch building or using the Scalescenes kit looks like my best bet too.

Gonna have to think of a name for my layout as I'm getting confused with which Mark's N Gauge thread is which!

I'm still working on a name as well. I might take a look at a streetmap to get inspiration!

Anyway, to update...that small section has dried perfectly. So I'll get on with the rest and once that's done it'll be time for the platforms. What I'm hoping to do is instead of using brick paper on the front, I'll score in "bricks" with a needle and brush on a brick-coloured wash, slightly darker than I want so as to compensate for the lightness of the wood.

Of course, in N, the brick scoring will doubtless be a very fiddly task...

The storage sidings are now ballasted...I tell you, whoever designed Peco points must either not be a modeller, or hates people who ballast!

I've also bought the wood needed for the station platforms. Just need to wash it with dirty brown paint for the brick effect and source some 2mm thick card/plasticard for the top. Not looking forward to cutting it to shape mind you!

The bit of wire at the top-left is a remnant of my method of keeping a constant power supply to the sidings/factory when the points are switched. It's just a small bit of wire - like that one - joining two rails that are as close together as you can get (right on the points). It's then covered with ballast and is invisible!

More angled view:

66 posing...

The approach to the sidings:

Just need to do that point you can see in the last pic, then the next task is the station platforms...should be fun...(!). After the wooden frame is in place, I'll ballast the station area then make the platform surface.

After a bit of thought, I've decided to make a slight modification to the plan (no pic just now, but here's the original plan with the bits added):

I've scrapped the runaround loop on the fiddle yard (for now) because I'd rather get the scenic trackwork complete. It means I'll have to manually move my 66 back to the front of its train, but that's no big deal at the moment.

For the station, I'm just going to have a single island platform and use what would have been the third platform as an exchange siding for out-going chemical tankers. So what will happen with operations is:

66 drops off tankers at A, before being stabled at B.

08 shunter comes out of C and picks up the tankers

Tankers shunted into Storage Siding, E

Two sets of tankers picked up from inside the chemical works, D, and joined into one train

Shunter takes this train to the exchange siding, F (which is fitted with an isolating section at the end)

66 comes back out of its stabling point and picks up the new train, taking it off back to the fiddle yard

Shunter returns to the yard and picks up the delivered tankers from E

Drops these off into the two bays in the chemical works

Repeat

Although I've already ballasted the straight section that leads up to the works, I might still take it up and swap it with the point to the new exchange siding, so as to take it away from the main line. This would also give scope for a second controller (plus operator!) to be introduced, meaning the shunting can all take place whilst a passenger train or two arrives at the station.

To think before I started all this I much preferred passenger operations...now I'm quite enjoying the freight side as well

I might...I saw them in an online shop so will probably get a pack to see how they do. "Hand of God" can get a bit tedious after a while

As an update, I've shifted the bottom line up to be parallel with the rest, and have altered the station design so it has two outside platforms instead of an island.

I've also decided not to scratch-build my platforms. Instead, I'm using the Lyddle End ones I picked up cheap at the end of last year -- I put them down and painted the surface all-over black; just need to paint in the white lines. Once that's done, I'll ballast the station, and finish the approach line. Then it'll be a case of building up around the "south" platform so that it's at street level, with a car park and bus bay.

I'm still in two minds about the industrial side of things. I'm tempted to turn that into a loco fuelling point, with the tankers simply being a delivery, before being stored ready to be taken away when the next delivery arrives. But it's the sort of thing where I can keep changing my mind!

I'd been putting off my ballasting because I don't like having to mix up the glue and water solution every single time; so this afternoon I bit the bullet and emptied all my remaining PVA into a tub and mixed up a whole batch which I put back into the bottle.

Finally, I'm already planning out my next layout in my head! I've got a bit of space on a wall where I could put up a couple of shelves, which would give me a layout that's totally permanent for the times when I can't (be bothered!) to put this one down and plug it all in.

Ballasting is very, very nearly complete - just a couple of points to do which, based on the others, should be fun...

I've decided on a name - Invertay. It's "somewhere in Scotland", with local stopping services, express services to Edinburgh and Glasgow and its own small portion of the Caledonian Sleeper (on order!). It also has a storage yard where empty wagons and stabled locos can get a bit of rest. I gave up on the idea of a chemical works or factory so as to increase scope, whilst still giving a reason for shunting about -- a 66 or 37 drops wagons off before being stabled, with the 08 shunter sticking giving them a place in the yard.

I'm waiting for some stuff to arrive to let me get on with construction, so I gave some of my locos a proper run-out today and took some photos, before the batteries duly gave in

A 170 sits on platform 2 having just arrived from Edinburgh whilst the 158 on platform 1 prepares for departure.

And off it goes with a local service.

08 shunter having just deposited some PCA tankers in the sidings.

I've put my batteries on to charge, so should get some snaps of my Voyager and 66 sometime soon